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Washington, VA By Nancy and Richard Woodworth After seventeen-year-old surveyor George Washington laid out its streets in 1749, this was to become the first of 28 towns named for the father of our country and the only one so designated before he became president. Not until rather lately had it been lifted from obscurity by an unlikely catalyst, a restaurant and inn playfully called The Inn at Little Washington. This was "almost a ghost town," in the words of Patrick O’Connell. He teamed with Reinhardt Lynch to convert what once was a garage at the main crossroads into a restaurant in 1978. Rave reviews quickly attracted the movers and shakers from big Washington, along with food and lodging cognoscenti from around the world. Because their clientele complained of the late-night drive back to the other Washington, the partners eventually added bedrooms and suites to become a full-service inn. Not an ordinary inn, mind you, but a pricey paragon that has been exalted to incredible heights. It is the only establishment ever to capture five-star awards for both dining and lodging from the Mobil Travel Guide and the first inn to receive five-diamond awards for both food and accommodations from the American Automobile Association. Its accolades – and the adulation of the nation’s elite – have put on the map, for better or worse, the two-bit hamlet in which it resides. But, its press to the contrary, this is no one-inn nor one-restaurant town. Others have popped up in the inn’s footsteps. Happily, success has not spoiled little Washington. The entire village is designated an historic district and remains unscathed by development. Washington is the county seat of Rappahannock County, though you’d scarcely know it from the unassuming government buildings a block off Main Street. With 6,000 people, Rappahannock is the second smallest of Virginia’s counties. It’s a relic of the past, situated between prosperous hunt country to the east and the bucolic Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. It’s a detour off the main road and not really on the way to anywhere else. At the dawn of the new millenium, local people conceded the village was in transition, poised – in one innkeeper’s words – to become "the next Middleburg." The village’s estimated population of 232 ranks it as the county’s largest, ahead of Sperryville and Flint Hill. The mountainous county has more cows than people and more apple trees than cows. There are no traffic lights (only a couple of flashers), no supermarkets or chain stores. It is a spectacularly scenic mountain area, yet tranquil and gentle. A few good shops, wineries and outdoor activities, plus the area’s cachet, make it a destination for weekenders (almost everything is closed early in the week). It’s a diverse area because it is home to the poorest of the poor as well as the richest of the rich. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which because almost everybody drives a pickup truck – except for those visitors, most in luxury cars or limousines, whose destination is the Inn at Little Washington. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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